Back in February I wrote about an inspiring Victory Garden lecture I attended at the SFMoMA. Blair Randall was nice enough to volunteer some of his time to share the Victory Gardens 2007+ story with the attendees last month at the Taste3 Conference in Napa - the video has recently been uploaded to You Tube. Victory Gardens were commonplace in the United States during World War I & World War II. The Victory Gardens 2007+ project that Blair is speaking about re-imagines these gardens present day. A few statistics:

- In 1943, 20 million Victory Gardens were producing up to 41 percent of all the vegetable produce that was consumed in the nation.

- There are roughly 1822 acres of possible food production land in backyards, public lots, and undeveloped areas in San Francisco alone.

If you have a few spare minutes, have a look at the video. The archival photos Blair shows are remarkable.

Comments (1) | June 12 - 5:15 PM

category: Eco-Kitchen, Events

Once a year the Anaheim convention center becomes ground zero for all things natural. 43,000 attendees pack the venue alongside 1,700 exhibitors at Natural Products Expo West. This year's event starts March 8, 2007. For anyone interested in getting a peek at new natural food products, emerging trends and speakers (this year they will have over 100 hours of lectures and panels including Alice Waters, Eric Schlosser, Andrew Zolli, and Neil Howe), this is the place to be. On the main floor specific products will be organized into pavilions clustered around themes like healthy ethnic foods, natural living, vegetarian, health & beauty, and they always have representation in the organic and sustainable wine category.

Comments (0) | January 4 - 1:46 PM

category: Events

Next month a special event will take place in Turin, Italy. Slow Food's Terra Madre is hands-down one of the world's most important and interesting food-related gatherings. It takes place every other year and brings together 1500 food communities from five continents, including 5000 farmers, breeders, fishermen and traditional food producers, 1000 cooks and 200 universities. They congregate in Turin, Italy to share experiences and discuss the development of a new concept of agriculture and good, clean and fair food.

Terra Madre 2006 will focus on a few different themes:

Networks: specifically, strengthening the network of food communities, cooks and universities and establishing communication channels within this network;

Agro-ecology: agriculture that respects the environment;

Market Access: finding new outlets for small-scale producers, who face crushing competition from industrial producers and distribution, through associations and cooperatives and collaboration with cooks and universities.

The bad news is participants are severely restricted. The good news is that you can keep track of many of the themes, ideas, projects, and people relevant to Terra Madre throughout the event (and hopefully the rest of the year) through the Terra Madre blog.

Comments (0) | September 13 - 4:26 PM

category: Events

Tastings don't have to be limited to wine or cheese. Like we saw with Ann Noble's recent heirloom tomato tasting, and now Sam's (of Becks & Posh fame) fantastic write-up on garlic varietals, all sorts of ingredients can lend themselves to more intensive exercises. Tastings I'd like to do include honey, unrefined nut oils, nut butters, heirloom beans, rices, and sea vegetables. Pick something, rally a few friends and compare the range of tastes, textures, appearances, and smells.

Photo by: Sam Breach

Comments (1) | August 20 - 11:47 AM

category: Events, Studies + Trends

Looking for a food-centric reason to hop a plane to Australia later this month? A Taste of Slow will be held in Victoria from August 28 - September 10, 2006. Lots of cooking demonstrations, wine panels, and even a camp oven cook-off - a followup up to a successful 2005 event. (More details)

Building on the success of its first year in 2005, A Taste of Slow 2006 will encompass a two-week program of classes, dinners, discussions and tasting opportunities, culminating in the Slow Food Weekend at the Abbotsford Convent on 9 & 10 September...a two week program of eclectic and intimate food, wine and produce experiences with an emphasis on taste, discussion and debate.

Comments (0) | August 2 - 3:54 PM

category: Classes, Events

Jill Nussinow's account of the Seaweed Convivium in Anderson Valley last month.

I spent the weekend of March 4th and 5th at a Seaweed Convivium. I do realize that seaweed is a foreign substance for most people who think that it ought to stay in the ocean from whence it came. But I have harvested it before on the very clean Sonoma coast and I wanted to learn more -- about it's nutritional and possible therapuetic effects, and how to use it in cooking. And that's what I did.... ( read more )

Jill also posts a seaweed-centric recipe that has crowd-pleaser written all over it: Soba with Green Soybeans and Sea Vegetables.

Comments (0) | April 6 - 1:20 PM

category: Events, Recipes, Superfoods

Looking for something to do next weekend? Live in Northern California? You are invited to attend the Wild Seaweed Convivium in Mendocino, California. You can educate yourself about the healthful properties of seaweed and sea vegetables, learn how it is harvested from the wildcrafters themselves, and watch how sea vegetable virtuoso chefs like Eric Tucker of Millennium put different varieties to use in tasty recipes.

The cost is $75 for two days; $45 for one day with a sliding scale for people willing to help event coordinators. Scholarships are available for students.

Read the article about the event on SFgate.

Comments (1) | February 26 - 6:32 PM

category: Events, Superfoods

Start planning now. The Food of the Gods Festival, a week-long celebration in Oaxaca, Mexico is on the not-so-distant horizon, from October 7 -14, 2006. Cooking classes, cultural tours, chocolate making demonstrations, and mezcal tastings pepper the week-long lineup. Another highlight looks like the exotic fruit tasting featuring guanabana, chirimoya, anona, nanche, chicozapote, mandarina, nispero, maracuya, jiotilla, tejocote, membrillo, and pitajaya. Different itineraries are available depending on your areas of interest.

Comments (0) | February 7 - 4:59 PM

category: Classes, Events

We are looking forward to getting the real dirt on Farmer John when this documentary comes through town.

"The epic tale of Farmer John, a maverick Midwestern farmer who—in spite of the condemnation from his community—bravely transforms his farm amidst a failing economy, vicious rumors and arson. In doing so, he creates a bastion of free expression and a revolutionary form of agriculture in rural America."

Select 2006 screening dates ( click here for more cities and more details )

Tempe, AZ 2/24 Valley Art
Berkeley, CA 1/27 Shattuck
Los Angeles, CA 3/10 Laemmle Sunset
San Francisco, CA 1/27 Presidio
Boulder 2/24 Village Theatre
Denver 2/24 Cherry Creek
Chicago 1/20 Pipers Alley
Minneapolis 1/20 Brooklyn Centre
Portland 2/1 Cinema 21
( More dates )

Comments (0) | January 20 - 4:47 PM

category: Events, Interviews/Profiles